PLNU News

July 30 through August 3, PLNU will host Make-A-Wish recipient, Sarah Fallon at the Training Minds Speech & Debate Camp on the Point Loma campus. Michael Hyatt, bestselling author of “Platform: Get Noticed in a Noisy World,” will be the keynote speaker at the event on Wednesday, July 31.

Nationally recognized for having one of the top speech and debate programs in the country, PLNU regularly competes successfully against university teams from across the nation, including the University of California, Berkeley, Rice University, the University of Colorado, and others.

To build the program’s continued success, PLNU coach Dr. Skip Rutledge, professor of forensics and communications, sees value in exposing young high school debaters to university caliber forensics through hosted debates and events.

“Hosting a camp allows us to help train, equip and empower this community, and possibly to recruit some of them to join our campus community and speech and debate team, as they are looking for colleges or universities to attend,” said Rutledge.

Sarah, a 17-year-old from Missouri, has made her Make-A-Wish wish to attend the Training Minds Speech & Debate Camp at PLNU. A homeschool student who got her first taste of speech and debate last year, Sarah put the camp on the top of her wish list after learning the details from her coach. Her entire family will travel to San Diego for the upcoming camp.

Make-a-Wish Foundation raises funds to grant wishes to children suffering from fatal and high-risk sicknesses. Sarah is in the midst of a long battle with Acute Lymphatic Luekemia (ALL), a fast-growing cancer of the white blood cells. Sarah is receiving chemotherapy every week and is on four medications.

“The medical summaries state her health is ‘good,’ which means she's fully functioning but may get tired at times,” said Training Minds Ministry president Chris Jeub.

“Of the five speech tracks available to students, Sarah chose 'platform,'” said Jeub. “This means she will be trained to write a platform speech (e.g. an oratory, expository, or persuasive speech). Platform speeches written by young people tend to be about other people or things in life as they often don’t yet have a powerful platform from which to build. But Sarah has a platform. She's struggling with a brutal sickness. Training Minds will be out to turn that platform into action and win some tournaments.”

Irwin Herman has been known as “the Bookman” in San Diego for the past 23 years. During the past two-plus decades, he and his nonprofit organization, The Bookman, have given away more than 8 million books. His quiet but expansive work has garnered media attention in the past, and now his journey has been chronicled in a new book, The Bookman, by Art Seamans, professor emeritus at Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU).

Seamans’ book will be presented to Herman at a literary tea held on the PLNU campus on Thursday, July 18 at 2 p.m. at the Bond Academic Center patio. Media and interested community members are invited to attend and to celebrate the great philanthropic efforts of this local hero. Both Herman and Seamans will be available for interview and comment.

Herman freely gives out new and used books to charitable organizations, teachers, active duty military, students, homeless shelters, prisons, and other individuals and organizations in need of reading materials. San Diego City College alone receives approximately 5,000 books a week. Donations have been made in all 50 states and many foreign countries. The Bookman operates his charity out of a 5,000 square foot warehouse at El Cajon Boulevard and 37th Street in City Heights, the space and electricity having been donated by San Diegan Jack Grace. The Bookman is an entirely volunteer-run, 501(c)3 organization.

Seamans is a retired professor and author of six books. Despite having lost his vision, he continues to read and write prolifically.

PLNU is pleased to welcome Dr. Deborah Erickson as the new dean of the School of Education. Erickson has extensive experience in Christian higher education. She will be coming to PLNU after serving 11 years at California Lutheran University as a faculty member, interim department chair, and, since 2007, assistant dean in the Graduate School of Education. In addition to her work at CLU, she has served on numerous state and national education boards and committees in key leadership roles. She was the president of the California Association of Professors of Educational Administration in 2006-07 and is currently a member of the executive board of the National Council of Professors of Educational Administration. She is well versed in both state and national accreditation issues and is currently serving in multiple roles with the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing. Prior to joining CLU, Erickson served as a teacher, vice principal, principal, and district curriculum director in several K-12 districts throughout California.

Erickson received a B.A.E. (elementary education) and an M.A. (integrated study in business and psychology) from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash. From there, she went on to earn another M.A. (educational administration) from CSU San Bernardino and her Ed.D. (educational administration) from University of the Pacific.

Erickson brings to PLNU a reputation as a tireless worker and skilled leader as well as an excellent record of scholarship, professional engagement, and community service.

“We are very grateful to the faculty and staff in the School of Education for continuing during this interim period to build on the progress that we have made over the past few years leading up to our NCATE accreditation,” said PLNU provost Dr. Kerry Fulcher. “I especially want to thank Dr. Carol Leighty for stepping in as the interim dean and doing much more than maintaining our programs and processes but actually moving us forward in them. It is on this good foundation that we welcome our new dean. I am excited to have Dr. Erickson joining us at PLNU and look forward to her strategic leadership that will help our School of Education to continue to offer quality programs that meet the needs of the K-12 communities that we serve.

On May 28, the Fermanian Business & Economic Institute at Point Loma Nazarene University presented its original research report, “San Diego’s Food Bank Population: Proﬁle, Analysis, and Solutions.” The report was commissioned by The Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank. The FBEI report involved the ﬁrst comprehensive survey and analysis of the 350,000 San Diego County’s residents who depend on the region’s Food Bank. Field research was conducted at many distribution sites served by the Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank and included interviews with more than 550 households receiving food assistance during October 2012.

“It is our intention to provide regional leaders a highly readable economic analysis of a critical topic to all within our community,” said FBEI executive director Randy M. Ataide. “The report draws a portrait of the people needing food assistance and seeks to understand the demographic, economic, and social factors driving that need.”

The vital demographic data in the report helps “puts a face” on the population that the food bank serves. According to PLNU chief economist Lynn Reaser, the face of hunger in San Diego County includes working families living in poverty, seniors, and tens of thousands of children. Unemployment is a factor for many seeking assistance, but most families using the food bank have at least one working adult in the household.

In October 2012, teams of staff and students from Point Loma Nazarene University visited food bank locations throughout San Diego County and surveyed clients while they waited in line for food assistance. The communities included: Central San Diego, San Ysidro, Borrego Springs, Warner Springs, Encinitas, Escondido, Ramona, Fallbrook, Oceanside, Lemon Grove, Ocean Beach, Poway, Campo, Descanso and Pine Valley.

On May 28, the Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank and PLNU’s Fermanian Business & Economic Institute held a joint press conference to launch the groundbreaking, 30-page report. Speakers at the press conference included: PLNU’s Chief Economist Dr. Lynn Reaser; Malin Burnham, philanthropist, and joint-funder of the survey; U.S. Congressman Scott Peters; County Supervisor Dave Roberts; and James A. Floros, president & CEO of the San Diego Food Bank.

Ivan Filby, currently the dean of PLNU’s Fermanian School of Business will leave PLNU to accept a position as president of Greenville College, Illinois, beginning July 1, 2013. Before coming to PLNU, Filby served as professor and chair of the management department at Greenville College from 2005-12.

While obviously excited about his new role, Filby said that it is hard to leave PLNU.

“PLNU is an amazing institution and I am so proud to have spent a year here,” he said. “And, I certainly will be no stranger to PLNU over the coming years as my daughter begins as a freshman in the fall.”

During his 12 months as dean, the Fermanian School of Business has made some important changes. It introduced new undergraduate majors in economics, finance, and marketing; a new minor in finance; and a new 5th year MBA program.

Filby noted that he expects it will still be “full steam ahead” in the business school. “The Fermanian School of Business will stay true to its mission of preparing future business leaders who, literally not figuratively, are called to change the world.”

“Christian higher education institutions like PLNU and Greenville College play a unique role in our educational landscape,” said Filby. “Christian universities with strong majors and a stretching liberal arts core are very effective at preparing students to think critically, solve complex problems creatively and communicate clearly – skills that are so desperately needed in today’s and tomorrow’s world of work. More than that, a Christ-centered education helps students prepare for all of their lives, not just the time that they spend at work.”

With Filby's departure, Provost Kerry Fulcher announced that Dr. Ken Armstrong, who served as interim dean in the Fermanian School of Business during the 2011-12 academic year, will be rejoining PLNU to take over the reins again as interim dean for the 2013-14 academic year.

“It will be an almost seamless transition a much of what we have accomplished this year was initiated by Ken during his time as dean," said Filby.

In the past, Armstrong also served as dean of the School of Business at Anderson University in Indiana and as interim dean during important transitions at George Fox University and Eastern Nazarene College. Fulcher indicated he was pleased that Armstrong “is willing to provide another year of excellent leadership as we search for Dr. Filby's replacement.”

“We are grateful for the excellent leadership that Ivan has given us over this past year and we wish him well as he takes on the new challenge of leadership as the President of Greenville College," said Fulcher.

The PLNU accounting program continues to be among the very best in California. Recent CPA test results ranked PLNU second in California in both CPA pass rate and average test scores. The Fermanian Business & Economic Institute continues to be one of the premier business and economic consulting centers in the state while the Center for International Development effectively prepares students to use their business skills to serve “the least of these” throughout the world.

Point Loma Nazarene University has become the first Christian university in the nation to vote to voluntarily raise tuition by $3 per student to support a campus Fair Trade Fund. The fund will allow PLNU students to show their strong support for fair trade initiatives and further the use of fair trade products on campus. This is another step that PLNU has taken to become a certified “Fair Trade” campus. The vote passed the student body by 80 percent.

Andrew Schalin, PLNU student and an intern with PLNU’s Center for Justice and Reconciliation, decided to undertake this project to show that the students of PLNU are committed to fair trade in a dramatic way: “PLNU has voiced that it is important to our students to make strides towards a slave-free campus. This will bring visibility to the fair trade movement both in San Diego and across the nation. Our hope is that other Nazarene schools, Southern California Bible Schools, and Fair Trade Universities will take note and implement this fund at their own schools.”

This is the second tuition increase that PLNU students have initiated themselves. In 2008, students assessed a $3 per student Green Fee to further campus sustainability efforts. Projects paid for by the Green Fund have included adaption to low flow fixtures across campus, installation of solar thermal panels atop student dormitories, and increased sustainability measures within campus dining services.